Exercises for Nearsightedness

The Truth about Eye Exercises for Nearsightedness
Eye Exercise Improve Myopia: What is the scientific principle behind?

Eye Exercise Improve Myopia : How effective is Eye Exercise?

Eye Exercise Improving Myopia: When does it not work?
Eye Exercise Improving Myopia: Proper Expectations

Eye Exercise Improving Myopia: Latest Technology & Future

With numerous eye programs and products promoting eye exercises for nearsightedness, claiming to work wonders to improve your eyesight, it is no wonder that more and more people are beginning to asked, is nearsightedness correction really possible with eye exercises for nearsightedness alone?

The answer is really YES and NO. This article aims to answer this question objectively.

Eye exercises are sometimes termed as eye accommodation exercises. When our eyes see images, whether near or far, our eyes are constantly adjusting its focus, much like a camera does. This is achieved with the group of ciliary muscles in our eyes. The process of focusing near and far is medically known as accommodation. (Also see How our Eyes Work)

When we see near object, our ciliary muscles tenses up. When we see distant object, our ciliary muscles relaxed. That is the reason why doctors would advise ¡°relax your eyes, see far¡±. Many clinical studies have shown a strong correlation between near work and myopia. With excessive near work, the ciliary bodies go into spasm and loose its accommodative ability, leading to myopia. (Also see Causes of Myopia) Hence, if we are able to train our our ciliary muscles, we would be able to maintain its healthy function, and also treat myopia.

The concept of eye exercises to improve myopia has being around for a long time; the most famous advocator of which is Dr William Bates whom proposes amongst others, eye exercises in the 1920s commonly known as ¡°Bates Method¡±. His principle however has attracted much criticism from many eyecare providers, which we will attempt to explain the reasons later.

Once you understand how our eye works, and how myopia is caused, you will be better able to understand how effective is Eye Exercise for nearsightedness correction.

If the cause of myopia is due to visual fatigue as a result of poor visual habits or lifestyle, eye exercise will be helpful in shortsightedness correction. Especially so for people whom are known to have weak ciliary muscle functions. For people whose myopia is likely to be genetic or hereditary, eye exercise will be less effective. However, it does not means that they will not benefit from eye exercises, eye exercises will still be helpful in maintaining the healthy function of the eye, and hence control myopia.


In addition to helping you to inhibit nearsightedness, eye exercises can be very helpful in the following situations too:

  • To increase eye function in people who find it difficult to read due to their inability to focus properly.
  • To reduce excessive eyestrain and fatigue.
  • Delaying presbyopia which is due to reduce focusing ability as one age
  • To help reduce increased sensitivity to bright light and strong illumination.
  • People who have crossed eyes may benefit a great deal from eye exercises as they help to align the eyes properly.
  • Doing eye exercises regularly can help to strengthen the eyes after eye surgery or any eye illnesses. (However, this should only be done after consultation with your eye care providers.)
  • Amblyopia or commonly known as lazy eye
It is thus indeed possible that nearsightedness correction can be achieved simply by spending a few minutes everyday on doing relatively simple eye exercises. In Asia, there is already a device EyeRelax that is widely sold in optical shops, clinics and pharmacy used for the control of myopia and improving eyesight. This product has even won international accolades.It is especially effective for people at the onset of nearsightedness, when the vision is affected by visual fatigue. For those whom have higher diopter of say -3.0 and above, where it is likely that their eyeball shape would have changed, and hence full recovery to good vision often difficult with eye exercise. However, these people can use eye exercises to help improve their eyesight, and prevent their eyesight from worsening with healthier functioning eyes.
(If these are not the information you are looking for, email to eyecare@eyecollege.com we may be able to provide the information you need)
Eye Exercise Improving Nearsightedness: When does it not work

There are a few factors affecting the effectiveness of eye exercises for nearsightedness.
  • If the cause to the user's myopia is highly genetic instead of visual fatigue, than eye exercises will not be too effective. However, eye exercise will still be useful in controlling the progression of myopia. Eye exercise maintains their eye functions and hence slows down its retardation further.
  • The user's lifestyle also plays a big part. If the user continues to abuse their eyes with excessive computer gaming, poor visual habits or even poor nutrition intake, it will also affect the effectiveness of the eye exercise programme.
  • The user's discipline and diligence plays a big part to the effectiveness of the programme. Most eye exerciser therapy requires 45 minutes of the patient's time, 2 times a day, to go through various cumbersome procedures. This is difficult to commit especially with urban hectic daily life. This is even more difficult if we are dealing with children subject.

However, increasingly technology is now available to guide patient step by step. Devices such as EyeRelax for example is designed based on the latest visual fields research and is able to automate the whole process, reducing each treatment for nearsightedness to only 6 minutes each time.

Eye Exercise Improving Nearsightedness : Proper Expectations
Now that you have a good understanding of eye exercises effectiveness for nearsightedness correction, you are able to make an informed choice.

If a eye exercise programme claims to be able to correct your nearsightedness irregardless, it is not true. One of the criticism on Bates practitioner is their view that with their method, the myopic eye, which is longer than normal, will be able to self regulate and return to normal size, and thus correct vision with persistent usage. This notion is unacceptable to the mainstream of medicine practice.

Hence if you are looking to improve your eyesight, or controlling myopia, eye exercise for shortsightedness correction will be suitable for you. If you are looking for a complete cure (where there is none currently), you will be disappointed. Generally, improvement to the eyesight would have set in within 6 to 9 months when the eye regains its good function. Continual usage is unlikely to result in further improvement, but it is encourage in maintaining the eyes healthy function. EyeRelax has being able to gain good acceptance amongst eyecare professionals with its responsible statement despite its superior efficacy.

Eye Exercise Improving Nearsightedness: Latest Technology & Future

Through the research of visual fields and the availability of more sophisticated equipment, scientist now understand how our eyes function better. It is through these researches that it was realize that the quality of the retinal image plays an important part to myopia development. EyeRelax is the first to have incorporated the findings of these studies into its technology. Hence it is able to improve both the accommodation function and the retinal activity thus achieving higher efficacy to improve eye health in a shorter time.

With increasing emphasis towards preventive medicine worldwide to combat the escalating health cost, and advancement in the ophthalmology fields, eye exercises is play a more significant role in our eye health in future.

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